-Blackhawks center Denis Savard was third in playoff scoring with six goals and 11 assists going into Sunday night’s Game 5 of the Western Conference finals, but he’s surprised that other people are still surprised he’s playing so well.
“They looked at the numbers and said those aren’t the numbers Savard used to put on the board. So now he’s back; maybe he’s playing better. But last year in Tampa, to be honest, I played pretty good. Maybe I only had about 17 goals and 50 points but I played very well on defense. This year when the season started my conditioning wasn’t good.
“It’s a surprise because people look at the numbers. That’s OK. If I can surprise ’em for two more years I’ll be very happy.”
Still steamed: Red Wings goalie Mike Vernon is still incensed that Sergei Krivokrasov received only a minor penalty for upending him on the first rush of the game Thursday night.
For his part, Hawks coach Darryl Sutter said he wasn’t sure any penalty was warranted.
“He intentionally hit me,” charged Vernon. “He didn’t lose a stride, didn’t pull up or anything. That’s the way the Sutters have operated for years because I’ve played against them for years, especially juniors. There’s two sides to that coin. Maybe we’ll turn the table on that.”
“Vernon cleared the puck and turned right into him,” said Sutter. “Even if Krivo had tried to stop he would have run into him. Sure, that’s part of our strategy to go out there and have to kill a major penalty right away.”
Smith on list: Defenseman Steve Smith is one of three finalists for the Masterton Trophy, an annual award given for perserverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.
Smith was nominated in part for his arduous return from a career-threatening broken leg in the 1993-94 season to help anchor the Hawks’ blue line. Other nominees are Kevin Dineen of the Philadelphia Flyers and Pat LaFontaine of the Buffalo Sabres.
Drought: Bernie Nicholls says that because the team lost, he derived little satisfaction from the goal in Game 3 that ended his 30-game scoring drought.
“It bothers you because you’re paid to score goals,” he said, “but if you score and you lose it doesn’t mean too much. I’ve said many times and it’s true that we don’t care who scores the goals. If someone thinks differently then they’re totally wrong.
Experience: Murray Craven has been involved in 14 overtime games in the last two postseasons.
“I always just thought well 60 minutes are done and now we’ve got to go out and win it in overtime,” he said. “Now that you mention it I have been involved in a lot of overtime games, but I’ve come out on top in most of them.”
He was 6-1 in overtime games with Vancouver last season and 3-3 with the Blackhawks entering Sunday night’s game.
